Christian Living

ACCUSING GUILT

by Madeleine Heathcote- Smith
10/29/15
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ACCUSING GUILT

When you open nearly every publication that focus on your everyday lifestyle, the idea of perfection takes the forefront; the perfect house, the perfect bank account, the perfect family and the perfect body. The list is endless and unfortunately we are also groomed in our society that perfection is the only acceptable standard. If you strive for anything less than perfection you are not good enough.

The end result of striving after perfection is that we are feeling guilty all the time. This state of mind is not healthy for anyone for it brings on stress and a negative outlook on life that makes one hard around the edges and vulnerable to physical and mental diseases.

 One would think that the Body of Christ would not be influenced by this worldly standard of perfection, yet we find this virus brooding unchecked in the one place that one should feel loved and accepted. This situation is worrying and what is even more worrying is that with the virus of perfection comes the virus of pride and haughtiness. This combined combination immediately causes death and unless the antidote is not given at the beginning of this viral affection the effects of it is seen immediately.

 However as it is equally important striving to do the best in everything we do as believers in Christ, it is equally important to acknowledge that even in doing our very best we cannot always be successful. It should therefore be the only strive for any believer in Christ to do everything in worship of Christ.

For it is striving in worship that we bring glory to God and not in our works. For the world success lies all in our works and how much medals of success puzzle pieces one can gather to build one puzzle of perfection. Such a life brings only unhappiness for only a little while one can hold up appearances.

After a while the perfect puzzle starts to crumble under the pressure then it is then that the guilt starts to set in and then afterwards the feelings of failure and inadequacy creep in pressuring one to start working harder and harder while everything  around them crumbles around them.

 Unfortunately in the Body of Christ this tendency is also very apparent. The viral infection has spread so far that your everyday believer in Christ feels that even their Heavenly Father expects the same standard of perfection just like in the world they reside in. In so doing the average believer develops the mindset of worship Jesus Christ not in truth and in spirit but through their works.

 As it is always the case the more the believer  moves in religion the more misguided and empty the believer becomes until he or she wants to give up on their faith in Christ Jesus altogether, though it is not the attention of our Heavenly Father altogether.

 His attention is that we should learn to rest in Him and from that place of rest we worship Him in spirit and in truth in everything we do. In other words our Heavenly Father does not and never will expect perfection from us.

 He understands that no matter how hard we try we will sin and we will make mistakes.  This is the reason that there is a cross of grace where we can go to every time we messed up to receive the gift of redemption. It is then we repent that the blood of Jesus Christ cleansed us from that repentant sin and our Heavenly Father remember it no more;

 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve us or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west so far he has removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103v 8-12

 Therefore we need to learn to live our lives according to what our Heavenly Father expects of us. If we to live our lives according to the expectations of people to strive towards perfection we will always fail, but the expectations of our Heavenly Father is that He only wants our true worship no matter what we have, no matter what we have accomplished.

 For Him it is about heart. The bottom line is that if our heart is at the right place with our Creator, no matter of our mistakes and failures, we are at the right place and thus are in the position that our Heavenly Father sees us being perfect and whole.